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Jason Pham
Mrs. Noyce
A3
15 December 2015
Greek Heroes
The definition of a hero to the Greeks is different from the definition
people use now. A Greek hero is shown by how strong they are or how much
power they have. The Greeks admired power because they wanted to see if
their hero can protect their city. Odysseus was a hero because of his power
he showed to other peoples not how he helped other people. Odysseus
showed his power in different ways like when he killed all of the suitors on his
property and to make other people be scared of him by showing how much
power he has to make people respect him. Homer conveyed how Greeks
admired physical power in The Odyssey by using when he got in a fight with
Irus and how Odysseus shot the arrow through the axes.
The Greeks definition of a hero is different than our definition is that
the heroes needed power more than anything else. Homer showed this by
how Odysseus got into a fight with Irus and showed how powerful he was to
the Phaeacians. On the story The Odyssey a beggar named Irus came up to
Odysseus and tried to get him to go away because he wanted food. Then Irus
challenge Odysseus to a fight to show all of his power to the suitors. This

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shows how they show their power they got into fights with each other or get
control over each other. The stranger has brought such a thigh out of his
rags that there will soon be nothing left of Irus (Homer 188). Odysseus
showed his thighs to the suitors which showed his physical strength when he
was getting ready and everybody all of a sudden they all had respect for him
included after he almost killed Irus. This shows how people in Greece didnt
care if people got hurt but cared if they had power. When the fight was over
Odysseus got a celebration from the suitors because he showed his power to
them and they respected him of it. After the fight the suitors all forgot about
what happened to Irus because he didnt show enough power to defeat
Odysseus who was in the form of an old man which made him look far worse
than he did before.
The Greeks heroes showed their power in many different ways to prove
they are worthy. Odysseus showed his power in a different way was when he
shot an arrow through the axes. The axes competition was to see who could
string Odysseuss bow and see who could shoot through all of the axes.
During the competition nobody was able to string the bow because the string
was too tight. After the suitor all couldnt do it Odysseus came by and was
able to string the bow and also shoot through the axes. All of the suitors
were amazed because he showed so much power that he was able to string
the bow and shoot it. Odysseus, when he had taken it up and examined it all
over, strung it as easily as a skilled bard strings a new peg of his lyre and
makes the twisted gut fast at both ends(Homer 222). This gave him more

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respect because of that and also that Odysseus showed that the Greeks
admired his physical power from being so amazed from the ability to do so.
Since he was the only one able to do this the suitor thought he was a hero
from how strong he was. Homer depicted a thought how Greeks cared for his
power by using the quote to show how strong Odysseus was by stringing the
bow.
The Greeks believed that a hero has different abilities then heroes now
these days. A hero to the Greeks is a person that has tons of physical
strength. A hero named Odysseus killed tons of people but is a hero to the
Greeks because he has tons of strength. Odysseus showed his power and
tests it by going through different challenges from different people or
monsters. Even though the challenges were though he got more strength
through every adventure he went on. Homer depicted a though that a Greek
hero is a person that has tons of physical strength that they show to
everybody by using Odysseus when he got into the fight against Irus and
when Odysseus shot the arrow through the axes holes.